2024-01-23 19:42:39
Published23. January 2024, 8:42 p.m.
Vatican: Italian priest convicted of corruption of minor
The religious received two and a half years in prison for having had sexual relations, when he had just reached the age of majority, with a young person who was still a minor.
Tried in second instance before the Vatican City Court of Appeal, the facts were reclassified as corruption of a minor.
AFP
The Vatican Court of Appeal on Tuesday sentenced an Italian priest to two and a half years in prison for corruption of a minor, for sexual relations with a teenager a year younger than him from 2008 to 2009.
“This is an important day for my client because, after many years of suffering, the violence he suffered has been truly recognized,” reacted the victim’s lawyer. “We express the hope that this decision may, in one way or another, lead to an even deeper reflection on sexual abuse in the Church.”
The facts allegedly began in 2007, in the Saint-Pius X pre-seminary, when Gabriele Martinelli and the victim were both still adolescents, aged 14 and 13. They would have taken place over five years until 2012, the year when Gabriele Martinelli was 19 years old.
No doubt about the reports
In October 2021, the Vatican Criminal Court cleared Gabriele Martinelli, tried for rape of this minor, while they lived in the minor seminary of Saint Pius of complicity.
The court found that there was no doubt concerning the sexual relations between the priest and his alleged victim, but that the elements were not sufficient to prove coercion through violence or threats.
Tried in second instance before the Vatican City Court of Appeal, the facts were reclassified as corruption of a minor. Father Martinelli, ordained priest in 2017, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and a fine of 1,000 euros.
Major defendant, minor victim
The Court of Appeal considered that he “is not punishable for the contested facts until August 2, 2008, given that he was under 16 years of age”. But over the period from August 9, 2008 to March 19, 2009, the defendant had reached his sexual majority, unlike his victim.
The Saint-Pius Some of them eventually decide to become priests and study in a seminary.
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